Nearing the End

On Friday, we tried a very expensive and delicious brand of chocolate: Amedei. We had the tasting squares, but I easily could have eaten a lot of more of this brand. The Porcelana 70% was one of my favorite chocolates I have ever tried. It was nutty, smooth, and balanced. It had a hazelnut flavor and reminded me of the taste of Nutella. It also reminded me of a type of chocolate I bought at a shop in Paris, Fauchon. The Chuao 70% was a little sour and had a vanilla, nutty, and fruity taste. It was made with pure chuao beans. The 9 chocolate was a 75% blend with an intense cocoa taste. It was rich and dark. It was not too bitter though and had a lingering chocolate aftertaste. None of these varieties were astringent.

The mystery chocolate tasting wasn't really a mystery given its appearance. We tasted Santander chocolate covered coffee beans. They tasted like a very rich coffee mocha, were crunchy, had a strong aroma, and gave me a boost of energy.

Friday's class also included presentations. One included a taste test on wild game. I have never eaten wild game before, and I had some interesting experiences with it:

- Venison - deer meat, tender, smokey, similar to steak only better, would order it again

- Rabbit - tough, kind of sweet, musty, rustic, hard to eat since it reminded me of the two pet rabbits I had growing up

- Duck - musty, juicy, unique flavor, gamey, not pleasant

The cheese tasting was our last one of the class, unfortunately. Also, unfortunately, it was not a very good array of cheeses in my opinion. I just really do not like stinky cheeses. All made my fingers smell bad.

- Taleggio - soft, stinky, sticky, tastes like sour milk, bad flavor grows as you eat it, grassy

- Morbier Raw Milk- STRONG aftertaste, musty, earthy

- Chimay - musty, sour, salty, bitter

The chocolate shop in Paris that reminded me of the Porcelana: